The United States cruised into the quarterfinals of the
basketball world championship Sunday. Germany had to fight for
every point.
Carmelo Anthony scored 20 points as the United States smothered
Australia in the second quarter to run away to a 113-73 the second
round victory.
Joe Johnson added 18 points, and Dwyane Wade had 15 for the
Americans, who allowed only two baskets and six points in the
second period en route to a 30-point halftime lead. The US shot 54
percent from the field, including 14-of-27 from 3-point range, and
led by as many as 42 points.
"This team really cares about US basketball and playing the game
the right way," said US forward Shane Battier. "We're focused on
playing with each other instead of against each other, that's what
the coach preaches and we're having a lot of fun doing it."
The US (6-0) advanced to a quarterfinal matchup Wednesday
against Germany, which beat Nigeria 78-77 in the first game of the
day behind 23 points from Nowitzki, the All-Star forward from the
Dallas Mavericks.
Andrew Bogut, the No. 1 pick in the 2005 NBA draft who just
completed his rookie season with the Milwaukee Bucks, led Australia
with 20 points. But after a strong start, he was scoreless for a
stretch of more than 15 minutes, when the Americans outscored the
Australians 45-14.
The Australians (2-4) came in seeking to control the tempo, and
they did a good job of it for most of the first half. Their problem
was in making shots.
Bogut scored nine points in the first five minutes, hitting a
3-pointer to give the Australians a 15-14 lead with 5:07 left in
the first quarter.
Australia was within two points after Brad Newley's dunk with
1:41 remaining in the first quarter. But by the time C.J. Bruton
made the next one, the Australians had gone nearly 9 minutes
without a field goal as the Americans broke the game open.
"Any time you get out of your group and face the US its tough,"
said Bogut. "Once they got those big dunks and fast break shots the
crowd got behind them, the shackles were off and it was pretty much
over."
Leading 27-23 after one, the US outscored Australia 18-1 during
the first 7 minutes of the second quarter to take a 45-24 after
Anthony made a pair of free throws with 3:01 left in the half.
Australia missed 20 of its first 27 shots before Bruton's jumper
with 2:50 to go.
Johnson scored the last seven points of the half, and the
Americans took a 59-29 lead into the break.
Bogut finally ended his drought with a pair of free throws to
open the second half, but the US built its lead to 88-48 with 49
seconds left in the third quarter after Wade hit the Americans'
fourth straight 3-pointer.
Battier hit four 3-pointers and scored 12 points, while Chris
Bosh also added 12 for the Americans.
LeBron James had another quiet game with five points, hitting
the top of the backboard on one jumper from the corner.
Earlier, Nowitzki gave Germany a 78-71 lead on a slam dunk with
2 1/2 minutes left in the game.
Nigeria pulled to within one on free throws by Chamberlain
Oguchi and Tunji Awojobi and had a chance to take the lead with
seconds remaining. Ime Udoka drove for the basket but Nowitzki
tipped his shot and grabbed the rebound at the final buzzer.
"We led the whole game and we looked a little bit shaky at the
end," Germany's coach Dirk Bauermann said. "The play at the end
could have gone either way honestly. We switched on the pick and
roll and Dirk did a good job of making it a tough shot for
Udoka."
Udoka's teammates thought a foul should have been called on the
play but there was no whistle.
Ademola Okulaja scored nine straight points in the fourth
quarter for Germany. He hit a 3-pointer two minutes in and was
fouled on a layup just over a minute later.
Okulaja, who played for North Carolina from 1995-99, hit a
3-pointer with 5:36 remaining to make it 73-64.
(AP August 28, 2006)